Language:
English
Pages:
1 DVD-Video (85 Min.)
,
schwarz-weiß
Year of publication:
2009
Uniform Title:
Vozvrashchenie Neytana Bekkera
Keywords:
DVD-Video
Abstract:
This rare, newly restored feature was originally advertised as "the first Yiddish talkie from Soviet Russia." The plot centers on Nathan Becker, a Jewish bricklayer who returns to Russia after 28 years in America. After reuniting with his father (played with comic eccentricity by Solomon Mikhoels) Nathan leaves the shtetl to work in the new industrial center of Magnitogorsk. There, he and his African-American friend Jim soon find that the work habits they acquired in America that helped them to "build New York together" conflict with the Soviet system. While the film's resolution emphasizes the triumph of socialist productivity, the screenplay by Yiddish author Peretz Markish reflects the warmth and humor of the Jewish spirit. "The Return of Nathan Becker" is the only Russian Yiddish sound feature film produced in the Soviet Union and was made for domestic consumption as well as for export to the United States. The film uses the character of Nathan Becker to dramatize of the failiure of American capitalism and assimilation, while glorifying the success and productivity of the new Soviet system. The film also depicts the shtetl way of life was backward and grotesque and promotes a shift away from this life and traditional Jewish values. It is a product of the Communist regime's determined efforts to reduce the rich Jewish cultural heritage to "Communist in content and Yiddish in form only". [jewishfilm.org]
Note:
jidd. & russ. mit engl. UT
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